Fight Like I Always Have
by Trixie The Fox
Summary: Shadow the hedgehog wakes to find himself in suspended animation, with only Omega for explanations. What will happen when he finds himself in the world he knew…but ten years later, and with Eggman missing? No Fan Chars, R&R PLS!
1. Chapter 1 “Blurred Vision”

Fight Like I Always Have

Chapter 1 "Blurred Vision"

A vision blurred through Shadow's mind…the echoing voice of a life long friend as her last moments repeated in a muffled tone.

"MARIA!" He shouted, but all at once his voice got quieter until he couldn't speak.

Gunshots running through his mind playing in a loop with the shriek and terrifying scream. "SHADOW!"

The hedgehog woke up breathing fast paced as his heart matched it beat for beat.

"I thought I was passed this…" Shadow thought to himself. "I stopped the ARK Maria, what have I left undone?"

A robotic voice aroused Shadow. "SHADOW…? WHAT…IS…WRONG…?"

Omega?

His eyes darted back at it with his blurred eyes but sharpened ears. "Omega, how did you get here?" Shadow said still trying to see.

"…I WAS ASSIGNED TO PROTECT YOU SHADOW." Omega said in his robotic voice.

The grey red and black robot shifted himself side to side trying his best to seem normal.

As Shadow's vision got clearer; he noticed something very wrong.

"Omega?! What am I doing in here?!" Shadow said pushing against the glass.

Shadow the Hedgehog was laying in a pod; the very same one he'd been in when Maria had died…he didn't know why but he felt too weak to even break through the glass.

The room was dark around him, ill lit with a foul smell of metal against metal and steam rising in the air.

Shadow noticed his rings were missing and when he looked over himself he could see two chaos emeralds fueling the pod…keeping him alive.

"Omega, let me out of here." Shadow commanded.

The robot moved backwards slowly. "NEGITIVE…MUST…PROTECT…MUST…PROTECT."

Shadow tried moving but his limbs were so slow…he was so slow…

Omega's metal fists shook and laid down against his side…he was confused as to what to do.

"Even if it hurts, I need to get out of this thing." Shadow thought.

He grunted as moving his arms was painful, but he pushed against the glass none the less.

Smoke rose from the untouched air of the suspended animation chamber and Shadow lifted himself on his feet.

"Omega, what's going on? What happened to me?" Shadow asked.

"ACSESSING MEMORY…SHADOW THE. HEDGEHOG…WAS SUSPENDED HERE…FOR TEN YEARS AND THIRTY DAYS…DURING THAT TIME…DR. EGGMAN HAS FALLEN…AND I WAS SELF-ASSIGNED TO PROTECT YOU…" Omega said.

A quiet moment passed between the two of them.

"Are you saying Eggman is dead?" Shadow said as his eyes opened up in surprise.

The robot hesitated to answer. "MISSING…STATED TO BE DEAD BUT IS UNCONFIRMED…THAT IS ALL I KNOW…"

Shadow stood there consumed in thought…he looked over himself and noticed the bandage across his leg and the scars across his side. "Omega…I don't understand what has happened, how could ten years have passed? And if so why don't I know how I got here?"

"HEDGEHOG SUSTAINED DAMAGE…SHADOW WAS FOUGHT…SHADOW WAS RESCUED…SHADOW WAS SEALED FOR TEN YEARS…I HAVE NO MEMORY OR RECORDS OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED…I DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED…BUT I AM SURE…I WAS SHUT DOWN INTENTIONALLY AND YOU WERE SEALED HERE…INTENTIONALLY…" Omega struggled to say.

The robot looked very drained of energy, he was speaking in a monotone and all but something was clearly wrong with him.

Dust was flowing though the air and Shadow almost choked on it.

"I remember now…" Shadow said suddenly. "…but it might have been better if I had not…"

Shadow used all his strength to open the door to the dark room…outside he saw the night had come and he was standing in one of Eggman's old bases.

The base however was full of wreckage as the moon gave enough light to look back at it.

Old robots which were shattered lay on the floor, Emeral's model shattered to pieces.

Shadow wasn't going as fast as he usually did and it made him secretly…a little frightened, he'd never walked so slow unintentionally in his life…and the looming feeling haunted his thoughts and mind.

"Omega…how could all this have happened…"

End chapter


	2. Chapter 2 “Passed the Creaking Door”

Chapter 2 "Passed the Creaking Door"

Shadow walked back inside, he got this strange feeling…then he remembered there were two chaos emeralds filtered through his chamber.

He lifted the glass up and took both of the glowing gems.

"That's strange…why don't I feel anything…" Shadow wondered as he realized the emeralds were not giving the usual vibes when being held. "Omega are these fake emeralds?"

"UNCONFIRMED." Omega said rather bluntly.

"They feel like fakes…" Shadow said simply.

The hedgehog stepped out and Omega followed slowly behind; the image of the outside seemed normal enough.

Shadow looked to be in Central City only something about it bothered him.

The city lights were shining in the dusk and the moon was out covered with a pail velvet cloud.

But there wasn't anybody there.

Shadow passed by houses and shops and stores and parks but no matter where he would look there wasn't a single person to be seen.

_Creak_…

Shadow jerked his head backwards alerted by the sudden loud noise.

Omega turned switching his hand-mode to gun-mode ready to fire at anything.

But it was just a squeaky door…flapping back and forth from the wind.

The house was shabby but Shadow felt a presence despite that.

Walking straight in not intimidated Shadow opened up the creaking door.

The floorboards were noisy too and when he looked back at the window before entering he saw there were bars on it.

"Is anybody there?" Shadow said as he walked into the house.

Omega was too large to fir through so he made himself ready by the window pointing his gun-like arms though the slits in the bars.

Shadow turned looking at the torn up furniture; and saw somebody was there, she stood wielding something ready to strike…but she hesitated.

"Who…who are you?" she said.

Shadow looked oddly at her; surprised at the question.

"Sonic? Sonic is it really you…?" the girl said.

Shadow couldn't see in the dim light and neither could the girl who was questioning him.

Lucky for him there was a light switch next to the door; when he flipped it on they both jumped as one of the light bulbs broke; but the light in the hall was at least enough to see.

The girl looked disappointed with Shadow's presence and then she seemed puzzled.

"Shadow? How are you still alive?" Amy said.

Shadow was equally as confused; Amy looked very different.

For one she was wearing a pair of jeans and her bangs were longer, the second odd question was why would Amy Rose of all people be hanging around a place like this?

Shadow knew it was Amy easily enough though; after all she was wielding her hammer.

"What's happened since our last encounter?" Shadow said.

"Shadow? You vanished off the face of the earth; you nearly scared me to death running into my house like that!" Amy shouted.

Shadow flinched. "I couldn't help my absence you don't know the full story, also I was unaware this was where you lived, I was under the impression we were in Central City."

"IDENTITY CONFIRMED…AMY ROSE…" Omega said.

"What are you? Captain of the obvious club?" Amy said with an irritated voice. "Of course I'm Amy Rose."

"THIS UNIT IS UNAWARE OF ACTIVITY FOR TEN YEARS AND THIRTY DAYS…WOULD YOU PLEASE UPDATE?" said Omega.

Amy sighed and sat down on the old tattered sofa. "Frankly I don't feel like explaining…I had to move when the new Death Egg blew off a chunk of mobious."

"What?! The Doctor built another?" Shadow said with tension in his voice.

"Gosh you have been out of it haven't you? Well yeah; you wouldn't think he'd try it after all the times Sonic has stopped him…everything's quiet now though." Amy said, the end of her sentence sounding less like her spunky self.

"I know what happened to me but I don't know what happened to the rest of this planet since then. Why is everything so 'quiet' as you put it?" Shadow said, sounding not in the mood to talk.

"well, the Death Egg was just one of the things that happened, it's hard to name what's happened the last ten years right off the bat but ever since that last battle nothing's been the same. I haven't seen Sonic since he left to stop the Death Egg…but we saw it crumble to pieces and fall to earth as huge chunks of rocks, most of it burned up in the atmosphere but after that everyone's gotten paranoid." Amy explained.

"And that's why you were so surprised when I entered…?" Shadow questioned.

"No Shadow, I'm used to people breaking into my house." Amy said sarcastically.

"It's not only that it's that Eggman's robots have run amuck since his and Sonic's disappearance. Probably why your robot friend over there's so uneasy." Amy commented on Omega's alertness.

The robot shifted back and fourth and Amy was right, he was very uneasy.

Shadow's eyes sunk down a little, feeling weak for some strange reason.

End chapter


	3. Chapter 3 “In the Ground”

Chapter 3 "In the Ground"

Lightning came down to the ground with a terrifying amount of electricity, unusually leaking to parts of the street, cracks began forming.

Cars all of a sudden started getting tipped over and hurled different directions.

"STATUS:…ALERT! ALERT!" Omega started going off.

Amy flinched then ran up to the window.

Clouds were gathering overhead, thunder and other weird noises Amy or Shadow had not heard before.

"OMEGA! GET OUT OF THE STREET!" Shadow shouted.

Omega was outside the house because he couldn't fit through the door, and reacted by moving.

The loyal robot tried avoiding the cracks in the ground when they came all the way to the ground where he was standing.

Rain started pouring bucket loads, almost flood like.

The craters were getting bigger, the earth shook.

Omega was now separated from Amy and Shadow by a huge cliff that formed between them, the drop looked endless.

Shadow grunted in frustration then backed up.

"Shadow wait!" Amy pleaded. "It's too far a drop!"

But it was too late by then, Shadow began picking up speed.

He was a few feet from the jump that he would normally sail across...but something was different…instead of seeing a glowing red streak when Shadow looked behind him, he saw a faint wind.

Shadow was slow…

And he only realized it after he'd already made the jump.

Slowly he felt gravity taking him by force as he kicked and clawed at the other side.

Omega's ground beneath him was breaking apart slowly, the robot saw where he'd been standing a minute ago shatter into a thousand pieces, and his weight was making him desperate for a steady ground.

"ALERT! ALERT!" was all the robot could say at this point, he moved back hastily and narrowly missed falling off the newly made ledge.

Shadow was hanging on slightly to the side with his last ounce of strength; the ledge was out of reach for what seemed like miles.

His feet hung down and he could see blackness and nothingness below.

Amy tried to help Shadow, but he couldn't see her at all when he looked up.

Then the rumbling stopped…out of the blue the clouds started parting from each other, the rain got less but still the wetness was making Shadow slip small amounts.

"It looks like…there's nothing more I can do…" Shadow said gravely.

His glove started to slide and his grip started to get less firm, but Shadow realized something.

"Those emeralds." Shadow thought to himself. "Where are they?!"

Above, Amy hung her head down searching for Shadow, but it was so dark and it was raining, so it was hard to see anything without risking the fall.

The earth had stopped separating and moving, but Omega was still stuck on the other side.

"Oh gosh…is he dead?" Amy said with distress in her voice.

As she looked down she glanced to her side, looking at the area from where Shadow had jumped.

Lying on their sides were two chaos emeralds, glowing in the darkness of the night.

"How could I not have noticed those?!" Amy thought to herself, picking them up swiftly.

But she couldn't see Shadow, if she simply tossed the emeralds in hope that he'd catch them, she could be forever ridding two chaos emeralds, forever.

"What would Sonic do…?" she thought to herself, closing her eyes gently, trying to act quickly, but trying to avoid error.

Omega starred at her with his deep red and black eyes, the robot could feel and think like a person, Eggman's machines always did seem to have something more to them.

And Omega's stare felt to Amy; he was trying to say something but didn't know how to say it.

Shadow's grip was almost lost on the ledge that was half way down to nothingness, he closed his eyes waiting for the last few seconds he would have.

"Maria…at least I have fulfilled your wish…and kept my promise…maybe now…I can die with dignity…" Shadow thought, sadly, but somehow very meaningful.

Shadow blinked once, then he felt the gush of wind from something propelling down, a purple gem fell with a push to it, falling down before his eyes.

He attempted to grab it with his legs and barely caught it.

"A Chaos Emerald!" Shadow exclaimed.

The gem was slippery, it had been watered by the rain and to Shadow's dismay, it was starting to fall off his foot where he was balancing it.

The sound of the water dripping against his fur and on top of the gem startled Shadow; he could tell he was loosing the chaos emerald.

Then finally, the inevitable happened, the gem fell off.

The glow from the jewel let him see all the way down underneath him, until it disappeared.

"NO!" Shadow shrieked in anger.

Shadow had just lost the chaos emerald…

End chapter


	4. Chapter 4 “The Cliff”

Chapter 4 "The Cliff"

Shadow's heart sunk and his eyes watered from the pain on his arm, he'd been holding on a very long time.

Amy stared deeply into the cratered pit, leaning over the ledge with her arm stretched out, she never felt so helpless since Sonic wouldn't let her come with him on the new Death Egg.

She buried her head in her hands…if Shadow didn't catch the first emerald…he was probably already lost.

Her cloths were getting wet and her hair was almost completely soaked in water and her eyes, soaked with tears.

Omega flinched several times, moving back and forth as if confused and unsure.

"SCANNER…ON!" Omega blurted out, with his monotonic voice.

A red beam of light shot out and he scanned down the hole slowly…nothing was happening.

"NO LIFE…DETECTED…" Omega said, almost sounding, sad.

This just made Amy twice as upset.

"I hardly knew Shadow but…I didn't want to be around to see him die..." she said with a teary sound in her voice.

Amy got on her feet and started lashing out in anger, throwing her hammer clear across to the other side of the cliff and in her blind rage…she threw the second chaos emerald.

Only after she realized this did she react, and it made her feel a whole lot worse…everything got quiet…

Suddenly…as if out of nowhere…with the wet sound of the raindrops hitting the ground and Omega's metal…there was a grunting noise.

A hand…laid itself on the edge of the cliff to Amy's left…the glowing luminescent light shining from it.

It Was Shadow, holding the second chaos emerald.

"Shadow!" Amy said, immediately grabbing Shadow's hand.

Shadow felt weak and could barely make it all the way up; he lay there pressed into the ground and denied Amy's attempts to aid him.

Omega stood there in awe and with a bewildered expression you could only tell from him if you knew him for a while.

Amy tried helping Shadow but he again pushed her away with what strength he had left.

"Shadow! stop pushing me! You're seriously hurt, let me help you." Amy said.

"I don't…need…any…help…" the hedgehog said, panting through the whole sentence until he completely blacked out.

_Blink…blink…_

Shadow's eyes opened up so suddenly, and he found himself lying in what looked like, a hospital bed.

"A hospital? On Mobious?" Shadow thought.

Omega stood loyally at his side and was taken back a bit when he saw Shadow was awake.

"STATUS…FUNCTIONING!" Omega repeated happily.

Shadow took a breath and examined his surroundings.

"Can't you ever just rest?" A familiar voice spoke.

"I can see you're still alive, even after that fight." Rouge said.

Rouge had also changed, her cloths were mostly the same, her wings were a little larger and her boots were different, she wasn't wearing as much makeup as he remembered.

"Sorry I didn't have the time to touch up my lipstick." Rouge said. "Nice to see you again Shads, weird, you look exactly the same, except for the broken leg and all."

"WHAT?!" Shadow screeched in a panicked tone, he saw he was wearing a cast and felt the sting when he tried to move it.

"I'm sure the chaos emerald will be able to fix that leg when it's set in place, those things can do nearly anything you want them to do, probably heal you up good with your connection to them." Rouge said, her voice wasn't the same either.

Omega shifted from side to side. "ROUGE."

"Omega! I can't believe I didn't notice you there!" Rouge said.

"Rouge?" Amy said, stepping through the door.

The hospital was, well, a hospital, only the equipment that was there was not new.

There were charts and other such things about the place and the walls were stained white and the door from where Amy came was large in size and structure.

"Shadow, I honestly thought you had died back there, you are lucky I'm stronger then I look or you'd still be buried in mud." Amy said with a laugh. "I suppose it was worth ruining my hair to get you here."

Shadow snarled.

"THIS ISN'T A JOKE! …Alright, I know who I fought and why I was sealed in suspended animation before, I know all of that, and for once my past isn't what's confusing me." Shadow said, importance riddled through his voice. "But this…it's beyond me, a fight couldn't have done this to me…what did? Did I die? Is that why all my abilities are gone?! I'm not strong, I can't use the chaos emeralds for more then the average person and I can't run if my life depended on it! WHEN my life depended on it!"

Shadow's words brought silence to the room; only the sound of Omega's metallic movements could be heard.

End chapter


	5. Chapter 5 “Conversation”

Chapter 5 "Conversation"

"Ten years is a long time." Amy said. "And you apparently slept through it all, but I don't have an explanation for you Shadow, I don't know what happened to you. I only know what happened to my dear Sonic."

Rouge sighed. "Amy, we all know Sonic was a great hero, but can't you ever move on-"

"NO!" Amy cut her off. "And don't you ever speak about him as if he's a piece of the past…if I have to die waiting for him…I will."

The tension grew and Shadow rolled on his side, bothered by the pain in his leg and arms from being on that ledge.

"I can never get a straight answer for anything." Shadow mumbled.

"STATUS REPORT…STILL NEEDED." Omega said, pointing Rouge's direction.

The two girls were sitting down at this point, in the chairs from the waiting room they pulled into Shadows' room.

"Well, to be honest, I'm not really surprised you're alive Shadow." said Rouge. "After all you've been through; you've survived everything thrown at you."

"By the sound of every word she's said, Sonic it seems didn't." Shadow said with a smirk. "He was a strong rival, but I always knew he'd come up short in the end."

Amy growled. "SHUT UP!"

Her deep blue eyes darted at him as she stomped over to Shadow's side; she looked him straight in the eyes much to his surprise.

"Don't forget if I wasn't there to get you here you'd be dead! Your own strength didn't save you, I did!" Amy snarled. "I'm starting to regret it now! Don't you forget Sonic risked his life to save the world you're standing on! While you were off ASLEEP! You disrespect him like that again and I'll tear your head off!"

Shadow's eyes were opened up wider then ever; this was not something he expected.

Amy over the years had still kept her deep love of Sonic and it seemed not even time or death could shake it from her.

Actually, she seemed more in tune with it then ever, after everybody assumed Sonic and Eggman had died, over time they had all accepted it, but not Amy.

Sonic was now publicly announced to have perished a hero, immortalized in ledged and memory, but, that would never be enough for Amy.

She was mature in her actions now, not as quick off the handle as she was twenty five years old now, but her personality was still the same, if you were to speak against Sonic, she'd argue the point till the end of time.

Rouge had changed in a different way; she was laid back and content and many of the ways she was as a teenager was behind her now.

Her personality was also intact but time had changed her and circumstances had helped her to understand situations better.

Omega and Shadow though, they were exactly the same.

Shadow was as he always was, in the shadow of the world, and of himself.

His curious nature still bound to him and his cocky presence unchanged.

Shadow was learning things had gone faster while he'd gone very slowly; both metaphorically and, literately much to his dismay.

"Miss Rose! Miss Rose!" they all heard out of the blue, from one of the nurses there. "The cracks in the ground are getting bigger again!"

Amy turned her head. "This can't be a coincidence, this is being caused purposely."

As Amy spoke her sentence the earth shook violently till, it stopped.

They all didn't feel anything abnormal, and when they looked out the room's window they saw the cracks were indeed a lot wider apart.

"We should check this out." Rouge said.

Shadow tried moving his leg but gritted his teeth as the pain came up in his leg again.

"Don't try to move tiger." said Rouge. "Whatever it is stopped now…"

"Don't tell me what to do." Shadow said in his deep and angry voice. "Give me the chaos emerald, I need to revive my ankle."

Amy walked up to Shadow and handed him the emerald. "Not sure what good it will do for that leg."

"They turn your thoughts into power don't they? With his connection to them maybe that means what he thinks can come true." Rouge smiled deviously.

End chapter


	6. Chapter 6 “Light in the Dark”

Chapter 6 "Light in the Dark"

Shadow held the emerald closing his eyes as if in tune with the precious gem, a glowing green light started to form and cover Shadow's being…but instead of seeing Amy and Rouge and the hospital, he saw something else.

When he opened his eyes all he could see was blackness, almost like he'd turned blind.

"What's happening to me?!" Shadow yelled. "Why can't I see anything?!"

A small glow came out in front of him and it was all he could see in the blackness, he looked down at himself and saw he was standing and was not bandaged or bruised like before…but he couldn't move.

"Shadow! Shadow!" he heard.

---

"Shadow! Shadow!" Amy was yelling, Shadow's pulse was failing and drastically going down; nurses surrounded him but the light of the chaos emerald made it impossible to see anything.

Omega Rouge and Amy could only stand there yelling for him to wake up and for the doctors to help him.

The red and black robot charged into the situation laying its hand on the chaos emerald.

---

"The chaos emeralds take what is in our hearts and turn it into power…" the voice spoke again.

"Who are you?!" Shadow shouted, alarmed.

"My name is Tikal, I am bound to the servos of the Master Emerald, and to the Chaos Emeralds, as is every Echidna and every guardian." she spoke, her voice was echoing.

"What's going on?! Why can't I move?" Shadow said struggling.

"The chaos emeralds, they take what is in our hearts and hey turn it into power, and now you can't use this power." she spoke.

"Why is that?! How did I loose my abilities?!" Shadow said angrily.

---

There were ten different nurses and a doctor all trying to get close enough to Shadow to see what was wrong and why his heart rate was up so high, but for some reason it got to the point where something was in the way, almost like an invisible force-field keeping them from further examining him, and Omega appeared stuck in the middle of it.

His metal hands were absorbing the eclectic-like shock of the chaos emeralds and his program data was being scrambled in the process.

---

"Shadow the hedgehog you have cheated death not once, but, twice. You should have died after the ARK incident, but you didn't." Tikal spoke with her angelic echoing voice. "Something happened that allowed your life spared, and you searched for the reason you'd sustained memory loss, until you remembered the events with your friend Maria and your life aboard the Ark."

Shadow's lip quivered…amazed at what he was hearing.

"The price for your survival the first time, was your memory, and you gained it back, the price for your second survival, after the fight, that too had a price…" she said, sinking her eyes till they closed.

Shadow's jaw dropped and his eyes dropped in anger and confusion. "Are you saying I can never run again? I can never bend metal with my hands or use chaos spear or chaos control…I am no longer…the ultimate life form…?"

"You gained your memory back over time, perhaps the same can be said of your abilities. The chaos emeralds also turn our thoughts into power…you were not thinking of your broken leg were you? You were wondering why these things were happening…thus…the chaos emeralds gave it to you…it restored Sonic once…but never again can your thoughts be used, you must use your heart…" she said. "…Remember Shadow, Always keep your heart pure…"

---

"Omega! No!" Rouge said in a blind panic, she grabbed the other end of the robot. "Amy! help me!"

Amy started assisting Rouge, she grabbed Omega's other side.

And all in an instant the emerald stopped shining and Shadow's eyes opened.

Omega fell over and collapsed.

"…" Shadow was struck speechless, not only his clouded mind but Omega laying there on the floor.

Shadow looked at his leg for a split second, then looked back when he saw it was no longer broken…and his brushes were all healed.

End chapter


	7. Chapter 7 “Original Programming”

Chapter 7 "Original Programming"

"Omega!" Shadow shrieked, laying his gloved hands on the robot's metal exterior.

The robot shifted its hand and slowly got up.

It didn't react to anything for a moment or so, and Amy Shadow and Rouge just watched and waited.

"Omega? Are you alright?" Shadow said in his deep vibrant voice, almost sounding, concerned for the robot.

The doctors all departed; there were other cases they needed to attend to.

The room was still silent…

Omega turned his head towards Shadow, and a red line blurted out of its eye and scanned down Shadow's being.

"SUBJECT…UNIDENTIFIED…POSSIBLE TREAT…MUST…NUTRALISE SITUATION!" Omega said.

Immediately Omega's arm switched to gun mode, and started shooting for Shadow.

Acting surprised everyone ducked and dodged the robot's sudden outburst.

Shadow grunted, trying to dodge the attack. "OMEGA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"MUST NUTRALISE!" Omega said.

Rouge took to the air quickly, lifting her and Amy out of harms way.

The hospital was going down in ruin, all around them nurses and doctors were screaming and trying to get the patents out of the hospital.

Shadow was having a hard time dodging the various bullets coming his way; he wasn't fast so he could only move at the pace of the average person.

He kept shouting for Omega to stop, but he wouldn't stop firing at him.

Amy took out her hammer readying to fight but Rouge flew upward to stop her.

"Amy no!" Rouge said.

"Rouge, it's happening to him too! It happened to all of Eggman's robots! Emeral, The remainder of the E series robots, he's converting to his original programming, destroy anything living!" Amy said.

"What Sonic was to you, Omega is to us, he's more then a machine! He has a soul! A being inside! I just know it!" Rouge said.

"Then What about Shadow's 'being'? He's going to kill him!" Amy said.

Shadow ducked, but felt a bullet braced his arm quickly.

He shrieked in pain and grunted, holding tightly on to his shoulder, an unhappily retreating through the hospital door.

All the equipment was damaged and the lights were letting out sparks and bolts of electricity.

"Amy come on, let's get out of here!" Rouge said taking off, but Amy struggled to get down.

"Rouge we can't let him leave the building! He's out of control and he'll take out the people who actually survived the last robot massacre!" Amy screeched.

Amy's strength beat Rouge's grip, she landed on her feet; wielding her hammer.

Omega's gun was still going off and there was no way of navigating through it, Omega's weapon was now tilted upward heading Rouge's direction.

Amy ran as fast as she could, her hammer in hand.

"I'm sorry I'm going to have to do this Omega…" Amy thought.

Amy laid into Omega's side with all her might, and the robot slid on the tile floor…and crashed on the other side of the wall.

"THREAT REALIZED." Omega said, but he was too harmed to move his arms.

Amy came closer to him with a sad expression on her face.

"I didn't want to have to do that…I know some of you have good in you despite being built by Eggman." Amy said sincerely.

Rouge downed her head…hanging on every word.

"One of Eggman's robots once saved my life aboard the Egg Carrier, I didn't want to harm you, but Sonic wouldn't have let you kill anybody and I shouldn't either." Amy said.

The pink hedgehog reached behind Omega's head, opening a few compartments and as she did this, Omega's eyes got dimmer…until he was completely shut down.

Rouge's eyes were full of despair for her once loyal friend.

"…" Amy walked over to Rouge. "…where is Shadow?"

"…I don't know…I think he was shot in the arm and ran off because the pain was too much." Rouge said looking from side to side. "What did you do to Omega Amy? How could you…"

"He wasn't the Omega you knew anymore, you forget I was involved in the robot panic, Sonic was gone and I was left to defend Mobious without his help." Amy said.

"Why do you always take things into your own hands Amy? For goodness sake!" said Rouge.

"Rouge, he was aiming that gun right at your head." Amy said.

End chapter


	8. Chapter 8 “Wounded Shoulder”

Chapter 8 "Wounded Shoulder"

Shadow felt his vision blurred from the pain in his arm and his breath was hot, and he soon found he could barely walk.

His gloves were stained from his shoulder which was affected badly by the bullet.

"There's got to be something I can do, I'm retreating like a coward I feel less then the dirt." Shadow thought to himself.

As he walked by, something crossed his path, he was still holding on to the chaos emerald with his injured arm's free hand, but there was quite a different item at his feet.

"One of my rings." Shadow said.

He reached down to grab it, but it was agenizing to extend his arm in the least.

Never the less he managed to retrieve the item.

He looked at it for a moment to clarify it was his, and slid it over his right glove on the uninjured arm.

His deep red eyes were squinting at the moment; he needed a way of reviving himself.

"I suppose there's no harm in trying to use the chaos emerald, despite what she told me, the last time I used them I was healed." thought Shadow.

Shadow held tightly on to the chaos emerald and took a deep breath.

He felt a tension he hadn't for a while.

"There's no harm in trying." he told himself.

The glow of the chaos emerald grew stronger in his hand, his newly found ring began glowing slightly too, much to his astonishment.

"Chaos!" Shadow yelled at the top of his lounges; closing his eyes.

Through his eyes colors began fading into grey, when he looked back up he saw…nothing had happened.

He still had a jaw-wrenching pain in his shoulder, and his wounds were still there.

Shadow threw the chaos emerald down in frustration, griddling his teeth.

He'd never had anything limit him before; Shadow was always such a powerful being.

Being 'The Ultimate Life Form' was something he was proud of, and now he felt just like Sonic only a lot less powerful.

He almost wished he could have lost his memory instead, and then at least he'd be able to figure it out over time.

Shadow sat down and as a last result, searched for the bullet, he shrieked quietly as this was an uncomfortable situation.

When he found it, he tried not to scream when it was removed.

He bandaged it with a few of the extras from his previously wounded ankle.

At last he could relax, things seemed to cool down, he still felt pain but a lot less now, and there was something about Shadow that made his bruises heal quickly.

Shadow sighed. "Omega, I wish you hadn't done that. I hadn't had such an injury in a long time."

Silence overcame him, he didn't know where he was but that was not high on the priority list.

He was standing outside looking at the remains of Central City, it was only now as the sun was beginning to reflect the area around him, that it really impacted him.

There really had been a brutal attack here, Amy wasn't kidding.

Shadow picked the chaos emerald back up.

There were bars over the windows of nearly every house he began to pass by, broken roofs and shattered pavements, and toppled cars.

The cracks in the ground staid a brutal eyesore, wider then he remembered.

It was at this moment Shadow took the time to do something he hadn't thought of, he started exploring.

The peaceful quiet was almost dreary if for too long, but it wouldn't always seem that way.

"I wonder what one of my rings was doing out here for." Shadow thought, looking it over.

He looked again at the craters in the ground, and began getting more and more curious. "Maybe if I follow it…"

The hedgehog followed the cracks slowly, looking each over and the more he looked, the more it seemed almost…unnatural, it sure wasn't usual in any case.

End chapter


	9. Chapter 9 “The Imprints”

Chapter 9 "The Imprints"

Shadow walked passed the city limit, not wanting to see Omega the way he was, trying to shut out the rare worried thoughts that could overcome his mind.

He continued, and before he knew it he finally understood the impact of what Amy had told him, he saw the remains of the death egg.

And when he looked to his right he saw something he hadn't before.

"I suppose it really is true, Sonic is dead." Shadow thought to himself.

There, next to the death egg, a statue was placed.

A golden remembrance of the hero that one was, sculpted in his honor and shape.

Sonic would forever be remembered the same as he always was, heroic; it left a bad taste in Shadow's mouth looking at it.

He didn't know whether it was because he resented Sonic for his heroic actions or that he thought it awfully bold to erect something to commemorate him.

"We will remember the day, when this hedgehog risked and gave his life to be sure that Dr. Eggman was once and for all defeated, and that only this piece of the death egg crashed into our humble planet. -The people of Mobious, who are alive because of his brave acts." Shadow scoffed, sickened by the dribble of the towns people.

Still…he was curious about the death egg.

He found himself walking into it; there were not many lights inside the dark chunk of metal, Eggman's abomination.

There were shattered jagged metals everywhere, a disaster area at no mistake.

As he made his way into the darker rooms, he pulled his chaos emerald out for its glowing light.

"This at least has some use to me still." Shadow said, able to see somewhat because of it. "I wonder if anybody looked in here trying to find Sonic…"

The more he looked the more he realized somebody had indeed been there, he put his hand to the blows in the wall, and when he looked closely he saw is was the imprint of Amy's hammer.

Amy took it harder then anyone realized; there were blows all over the walls from what probably was her way of venting her anger and despair.

He looked over his ring again, wanting to stray his thoughts away from all he'd figured out.

But it was just his ring, glowing slightly when he touched it, nothing different about it.

Shadow walked into what probably was the control room, and saw Eggman's large control center, the big screen in the center of the room with the large keyboard, it was his super computer.

"I wonder…" Shadow thought to himself, he approached it, and pressed the enter key, and suddenly the blurry screen appeared. "PASSWORD: *****"

He wasn't too interested, but still…the five syllables, he almost instantly knew what the password might be.

"Maria…" Shadow said, entering it in hesitantly, even hearing her name brought up a lot of bad memories…

Sure enough, the password was correct, the computer read. "PASSWORD ACCEPTED…PLAYING RESENT VIDEO FOOTAGE."

Then the screen went blue for a moment, till a video started playing.

Shadow blinked in confusion, it was Sonic on the screen.

"I don't have much time." Sonic said, in the previously recorded video, things blowing up behind him. "I managed to scramble Eggman's machines."

The footage blurred for a moment.

"This does not seem like Sonic, to record a video like this…." Shadow thought.

Sonic as much as acknowledged Shadow's question. "I'm not much for video cameras, it's not my style. but I thought I'd give you guys a heads up; Eggman played another one of his dirty tricks, he's set all his robots to one by one start attacking for no reason and at different times for twenty years to come, so keep an open eye around them, or things could get a little difficult. So anyway, I still have a few tricks of my own to play, so, I gotta run."

Then…the screen went blank, and shut off completely.

End chapter


	10. Chapter 10 “Subject Unidentified”

Chapter 10 "Subject Unidentified"

Amy and Rouge were standing in the silence…the room that crumbled after Omega's attack.

Rouge ran over to Omega, looking him over.

"How can we turn him on?" Rouge said.

"He's not real Rouge, a machine." Amy said. "Free will is the only living ability he had, but he was still bound to a computer."

"You don't even care!" Rouge said. "How could you do that? Shadow would have gotten away! He always does! Maybe there could have been a different way to stop him..."

"How?! Rouge, you know as well as I do what happens when these machines start turning, it was only a matter of time, I knew that the second I saw him." Amy said.

Rouge jumped up. "Wait, His programming, Maybe we could have him reprogrammed."

"It'd only happen again." said Amy. "Besides you wouldn't get the same Omega you knew, he'd have no memory."

"It's worth trying." Rouge said.

"Then who would you get to reprogram him? Tails was the ONLY one capable of tackling equipment like that…" Amy said.

"Then…then we should look for him." Rouge said.

Amy Rose stomped her foot. "Don't you think I've tried to find him? Hoping he'd have an explanation for all of this, from being with him last when Sonic went missing."

"If Tails can fix him then Tails is who we'll get, I can't leave him like this. Besides Tails is just as smart as Eggman was, maybe he can fix him without him loosing his data." Rouge spoke.

"Go ahead and look for him…I'm not going…I gave up on that a long time ago …" said Amy.

Rouge took one last look at Amy and Omega, and left the shattered hospital.

Amy stood there alone…with this awful feeling overwhelming her.

She was always strong, and when Sonic left she forced herself to be stronger and to take the responsibility of protecting the people herself when the robots attacked.

But she was bitter about it too, she didn't move on, so there was no closure for her.

And though she hated the thought of being challenged by her belief Sonic was dead, she was also curious about it, Tails was the last person to see Sonic alive.

So, she sighed and ran out the door after Rouge, though her past efforts to find Tails were in vain, maybe this time it would be different.

---

Shadow turned his head as he noticed there was an intruder in his mists.

A robot, similar to Omega in many respects appeared before him, his red eyes glowing as he gave off a chilling feeling.

It was defiantly one of the E series robots; it had many of the same weapons and capabilities.

"MUST…DISTORY…INTRUDER!" it said with a sudden lunge forward.

Shadow ducked, narrowly avoiding the robot's arm's sudden movement, he almost shaved his head clear off.

Shadow grunted angrily and got up behind him.

Shadow leapt backwards and the robot responded to him, and fixed his gun, repeating "MUST DISTORY INTRUDER!" over and over again.

Shadow blinked and was nailed in the gut; he struggled to climb onto the robots arm as it was trying to shake him off and to get a clear shot at him.

Shadow crawled on top of him and barred his knuckles and fist, and punched into the robot's head with all his might.

all Shadow could do was let out a loud scream, he didn't even dent the metal and broke his left hand in the process, the jolt brought back the pain from the bullet and found he could barely move.

The robot aimed up slowly, ready to take Shadow's life.

Shadow crawled on the floor, trying with all his might to escape, but it was no use.

"SUBJECT UNIDENTIFIED..." the robot said, its glittering computerized eyes running through data.

Shadow was breathing hard. "…Cheated death…" he began thinking.

The chaos emerald was on the floor in front of him, he'd dropped it when he was thrown down.

As the robot was scanning him, he reached his fingers over the precious gem, and grasped it.

The pain was overwhelming and Shadow couldn't hold it in any more, he screamed at the top of his lounges. "MARIA!!!!!!!!!!!"

Trying to keep any weakness from being seen, even now, the hedgehog held the chaos emerald close to him. "C…CHAOS!!!"

The gem grew a bright light and baffled the robot, Shadow's ring reacted too.

Shadow tried to get the ring off with his broken hand, having a hard time of it.

With as much haste as he could, the ring came off and landed beside him, twanging on the floor.

Shadow felt powerful again, the ring was still effective even if he wasn't the ultimate life form anymore.

He jumped on his feet, not being distracted by the pain now.

The robot stood still because of the chaos emerald's interference and Shadow ran forward and detached the gun from the robot's metal structure, and fired it at him.

The robot shifted from side to side, like Omega had before.

Shadow kicked him down and shot his metal controlled area, and it slowly shut down.

Shadow was breathing slowly, his eyes faded from color a few times, barely staying awake, his wounds were again healed though, he didn't understand it, it had just happened…

End chapter


	11. Chapter 11 “Grief”

Chapter 11 "Grief"

Shadow examined the area once more, not wanting to be caught off guard again, and to his dismay he did find something strange about the robot he'd just defeated…

Underneath the shell of the robot…lay Tails' wounded body.

Shadow gasped to himself, why was Tails in such a thing?!

Naturally he knelled down and took his arm to see if he was alive or not.

Tails suddenly took a gasping breath, like he had been drowning, and coughed violently.

"Why were you inside such a thing?!" Shadow exclaimed. "Fool!"

Tails was rolling on either side; he was in a very frail state.

Shadow took hold of both Tails' arms and pulled him slowly across the floor.

He tried to revive him by applying pressure, and Tails regained the strength to tell him to stop.

"S…Sonic…" Tails said, before his vision was correct…then saw it was Shadow who'd come to his aid. "W…where am I?"

"I was hoping you'd know that at least." Shadow said impatiently.

"Did…did you defeat Metal Sonic?" Tails said. "Where…and…"

Tails looked at himself and reacted in surprise; he was much older and looked very different.

other then the fact he was damaged from head to toe, his tails were a little larger and his fur rougher, Tails had aged ten years, he was now eighteen years old…

Tails struggled to get on his feet and ran towards the nearest exit.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Shadow said, following him, irritated by his impulsive behavior.

When Shadow made it passed the wreckage and got outside…he found Tails on his knees…in front of the Sonic Memorial…looking in disbelief.

"No…no….this can't have happened…" Tails said, bursting into tears, lying in the grass beside it, curled up in despair.

Shadow stood there in silence.

"Why is Sonic so important to them anyway?" he wondered.

It seemed Tails did not know what had become of Sonic, and was grieving dreadfully now that he'd found out.

---

Hours later, Shadow had already re-attached his ring, waiting for Tails to talk to him about what had happened.

He came up next to him, showing no emotion in his expression, but the very presence made Tails realize he needed to stop crying.

He looked still, consumed in grief; his head bowed low clenching his fists in anger as well as in sadness.

The poor fox rubbed his eyes and dried his tears, and turned his back to the statue.

"I can't believe this happened…" Tails said.

"What DID happen?" Shadow said, curiously. "Why on earth were you inside one of the doctor's machines?"

"…" Tails was having trouble thinking at a time like this. "Sonic…Sonic and I were aboard the Death Egg, Sonic didn't know I'd gone with him, I hid in the back seat of the Tornado…I didn't want to be left behind…I wanted to help him…"

Tails' teary voice was sounding a lot stronger, and his voice had dropped a little to fit his age. "Eggman caught me alone, he…he…he lied to me and told me he had Sonic…I shouldn't have trusted him…I didn't want to, but the situation suggested he was telling the truth…he came up to me, and used me as a power source for that monstrosity…he'd always used smaller animals to power his machines…but used my being inside it so that Sonic wouldn't attack me….Sonic didn't want to kill me by spin-dashing into the robot I was trapped in, and I could do nothing…the robot just kept firing and firing…then I heard a crash as a part of the Death Egg began to break apart from Sonic's efforts…after the crash the robot had jolted backwards and the impact of metal to my head…knocked me out…I don't know what happened to me…but after I was knocked out it seems since the air was such a small amount I couldn't come to again…enough for me to live….but not enough for me to wake up…I don't know what happened to him…but…the robot I was in…if it was still whole and untouched by Sonic…does that mean…"

Tails tried keeping the tears from flowing. "Does that mean that it was this robot that killed Sonic…did…did my being there…cause his death…?"

Shadow didn't know what to make of this situation, Tails was so full of sadness…even getting an explanation made him very uncomfortable…why and how could all this happen…and why is it Tails lived this whole time trapped inside a machine only to return now…?

End chapter


	12. Chapter 12 “The Perfect Storm”

Chapter 12 "The Perfect Storm"

"Shadow? Did you defeat Metal Sonic….?" Tails said, trying to keep his mind off the other issue.

"I believe I did, though the details are a bit fuzzy." said Shadow. "I think I must have sustained damage…"

Shadow felt all the more uncomfortable talking to Tails, not just because he could pick up on his grief easily, but he was never a talkative person.

"I'm surprised I don't see any scratches on you after that robot tried to kill you." Tails said. "That's what happened didn't it?"

"…" Shadow was impatient and confused, he didn't much like conversation. "I really don't have time for this."

"Mind telling me why you haven't changed a day?" Tails said. "When I'm like this."

"You are a normal life form, I don't age however. The fact I was in suspended animation means nothing."

Crack…both of them felt a shaking in the earth once more.

"Not again." Shadow said irritated.

He felt the wrestle of the ground splitting apart, Mobious was again having its ground shattered.

But now…in front of the setting sun, they saw what it was that was causing it.

Lightning shot down from the sky and swirled down below, creating a tornado-like twirl of both cloud and gray matter.

It lit up like a light in the dark, and before it happened the sun was out, now it was being blocked by the rush of clouds.

The wind was violent and the separations in the terrain grew larger and harder, shaping upwards and downwards like an unnatural forming of cliffs and rocks.

Tails shielded his eyes from the wind and the beam of light that collided with the upward sky.

"What is that…?" Tails said in amazement.

The pure white and gray tornado like formation reached above the clouds and above the stratosphere itself.

It colliding into the depths of space and whatever might be beyond that.

"I've never seen anything like that before in my whole life, the preciseness of it all…" Tails said in awe.

"What do you mean like that?" Shadow said, still alarmed with what he was seeing.

The earthquake continued and it was almost hard to stand up.

"I mean, this is impossible weather, clouds don't form like that…" Tails said his sentence very serious.

"Impossible." Shadow grunted.

"So is a perfect life form with abilities you have, so is a hedgehog born who can run faster then the speed of sound." Tails said.

Shadow got ready to get a closer view.

Tails looked horrified when he got a better look; from the hill where he stood…he saw an awful sight…

The tornado stretched out larger and started heading towards Central City.

Everywhere buildings were being ripped apart in seconds.

Cars went flying and the lightning lit up any metal there was in a hundred mile radius, the whiteness of the structures either burst into flames or fell down.

"No!" Tails said, spinning his tails behind him, launching himself into the air.

Shadow ran quickly towards the city, searching each direction for anyone or anything that might be causing it.

But now he was in the line of the storm.

You could barely see anything in this now pitch black sky other then the blue and gray in the clouds and the white lightning up above flashing vibrantly every second, shocking and destroying.

Things were swirling in the air and crashing to the ground.

The tallest buildings were in shambles and falling on top of the smaller buildings in a domino effect.

And now Shadow was right in the middle of it…

Shadow dug his feet into the ground gripping it as best as he could, this would be a stupid move to head right towards it if not for Shadow's iron-willed-confidence in himself.

But there was only wreckage and new wreckage.

People were running out of the city as fast as they could, making to their cars or just running in a blind panic.

There was screaming and yelling that made your ears hurt, and the glass shattering sound of the nearby buildings toppling over.

Shadow suddenly turned his head…there stood Amy, helping the citations to safety bravely.

Shadow ran to her. "Foolish girl! Get your pathetic existence out of here if you want to keep it!"

Amy ignored him.

Shadow stood in silence…even with the horrible noises and destruction going on around him he was distracted…he saw a young girl trapped inside a turned over car.

He ran quickly to her, and smashed his hand through the glass window and tore the car door off.

The young girl was blond, with a light blue dress and innocent eyes…human…and resembled Maria in many respects…

"Get out of the car!" Shadow commanded.

But the girl's seatbelt was caught.

Shadow was about to interfere when he heard a bone chilling sound…above was a building on the verge of falling down…and it would land right on top of the car.

Shadow groaned, and jumped inside the vehicle.

There were shattered pieces of the automobile and the seatbelt wasn't coming off.

The girl was panicking. "Help me please! I beg of you!"

The words stabbed Shadow in the heart…this was not Maria…but it was a sentence once said by her the same way.

With his strength he tugged once more on the seatbelt…and ripped it off.

The girl grabbed him in fear and he made his way out of the metal death trap with her in hands.

The second Shadow made it into the middle of the street he saw the building fall down on top of it, and the fall against the ground flipped him backwards…

Shadow was just flung high into the ground by both the wind and the impact of the fallen building…into a glass window…

He lay lifeless on the ground where the torn down wall's window lay…his chaos emeralds fallen beside him as his wounded body sat on the street.

Amy held the girl he just saved…and was screaming in fear and panic when she saw him…and Shadow's eyes closed…

End chapter


	13. Chapter 13 “Omega”

Chapter 13 "Omega"

Tails stood before the city, looking for people to help out of it.

And sure enough, he found someone in need of rescuing…

Rouge was passed out on top of Omega…who was activated again.

Tails recognized what has happened with the robots…as he was inside one of them the time they started rebelling on the world.

"You let go of her!" Tails shouted, twirling his tails and propelling frontward.

The storm was still impacting the entire city, there was not much time left, and it would not be standing long.

And the wind was making it hard for Tails to fly.

Omega's red glowing eyes turned looking at Tails, carrying Rouge in its metal hands.

"POSSIBLE THREAT DICTECTED: PLEASE CONFIRM IDENTITY." Omega said.

Tails flipped his foot out in front, readying to kick him through his head.

"SUBJECT IDENTIFIED." Omega said, glass dropping on its metal body.

Tails was inches away from shattering his metal skull…but hesitated.

Rouge lifted her hand up in front of the area he was about to attack.

"Stop Tails…he needs…to be…reprogrammed…" Rouge fell back into unconsciousness.

Tails flew on the opposite side, but now Omega had started firing his gun from his free hand.

He was shooting already loose glass windows and it was damaging the structure.

Tails was dodging the bullets with his quick reflexes

Tails put himself directly in the line of fire, and ascended to the back of Omega's robotic body.

The robot suddenly grabbed Tails' tails and started putting them apart; Rouge was thrown on the floor.

Tails felt immediate pain when he was already wounded beforehand, and he knew he had to think quickly.

There in front of him was Omega's control panel, he reached quickly for it with his hands and barely…snapped a wire with his finger.

Omega's eyes were glowing then fading out all in an instant.

Tails stood on top of him, typing things in his keypad and reattaching different wires, he was going all out on his system.

"That should do it!" Tails said, leaping backwards.

Omega twitched several times…

"THIS UNIT…HAS REBOOTED…THIS UNIT…HAS REBOOTED…" Omega said…then looked down at Rouge. "ROUGE…ARE YOU DAMAGED?"

Tails smiled, and then noticed his surroundings.

The storm was still calling and there was still a great amount of danger.

"Omega, grab Rouge and let's get out of here!" Tails said.

Omega nodded, and picked her up delicately.

End chapter


	14. Chapter 14 “Only One Sonic…”

Chapter 14 "Only One Sonic…"

A light flashed in Shadow's deep eyes…and a girl's voice echoed…

"Shadow…" it said.

Shadow recognized it. "Maria…?"

But…the tone quickly changed…to a wise sounding one…

The blackness turned to light as Tikal stood there in front of him. "The chaos emeralds are power…power enriched by the heart…"

"Am…am I dead?" Shadow said in a weak voice, not able to see himself at all…only Tikal's presence.

She smiled compassionately. "You have cheated death many times strong hedgehog…I told you before that gifts can be earned back…do you remember that? …you gained your memory…by figuring out the truth…and putting it behind you…next was time for a very different test…you were given abilities when created by Gerald Robotnik…but you were also endowed with the chaos emeralds' energy…you stand on very deadly ground Shadow the hedgehog…you had not understood your true purpose…you are a cheater of death…and by keeping your heart pure as you saved that young girl and as you smashed into that window…the chaos emeralds glowed…did you not understand how you gained the strength to free her…? …the chaos emeralds take what is in our hearts and turn it into power…I made a promise to keep the balance and guide those who use the chaos emeralds…and so I shall guide you one last time…"

"I don't understand what you're saying! Why can't you speak clearly instead of riddles?!" Shadow shouted.

Tikal closed your eyes. "In living, the price was your abilities…in this death, is the reward of each…life…and your abilities…"

Tikal suddenly vanished into thin air, and Shadow's eyes opened.

he felt himself energized, and though laying in broken glass, he was alive…he got up rubbing the dirt off of his face, and saw the tornado reaching closer.

Amy and the girl were long gone and the people had all evacuated.

The chaos emeralds at his feet started to glow, and he picked them up.

Shadow smirked. "CHAOS…CONTROL!!!"

Shadow found himself on the top of the hill where he'd found the part of the broken Death Egg.

There he expected only a clear view, but he found something quite different.

On top of the Sonic statue…stood the terrifying structure of what first glance you might guess as Sonic.

"Metal Sonic." Shadow scoffed.

The golden statue reflected shocks of lightning back and forth.

"There can only be, one Sonic." Metal Sonic dared to say. "That includes the identity thefts."

Shadow snarled with angry eyes.

"Foolish mortal, your life will soon be forfeit. Are you not witnessing my power?" Metal said in his monotonic voice, holding his hand to the sky as lightning filtered through it, and through the statue.

The gold began to melt with the heat and Metal Sonic took to the sky as it did, his rocket shoes allowing him flight and speed.

Sonic's statue…melted into a puddle of golden rain.

Shadow looked up at the sky once more. "How are you doing this?!"

"My so-called master, created a second Death Egg, did nobody wonder how it shattered to pieces? My unworthy adversary, it was me who shattered it and propelled the few pieces to earth, how can I become mortals' master when there are no mortals left?" Metal said, his computerized voice having no emotion at all. "That undeserving other Sonic still stands there to this day, stuck in one of the last missing pieces of the Death Egg, never to bother me again. And the once powerful space station is now creating this storm. Soon, no city will be left standing, and no impersonation will stand in my way."

Shadow felt a chill run down his spine. "The ARK…but how? It was left over Earth."

"Stupid life form! This IS earth, in the distant future, now that you've seen what I can do, you might as well surrender to me."

Shadow half smiled with a cocky look on his face. "You really have no idea who you're dealing with do you?"

"As I said once before, all living things will soon kneel before their new master, one of them being you." Metal suddenly lodged himself into Shadow's chest.

Shadow clenched his fists. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

He suddenly appeared in mid air, behind Metal Sonic, and took a quick jab at his face.

"You may know every move that Sonic once made." he vanished again with his chaos emeralds. "But that won't help you-"

Shadow threw a mighty kick into Metal's sharp body. "AGAINST ME!"

There was a huge brawl lit up in the dark, glowing streaks of red and blue lit up the sky as both threw the other into buildings and into the ground and into objects.

One of Metal's punches lodged Shadow down into one of the cracks in the ground, he barely flipped out of harms way as a roof fell into the pit.

Metal was winning for now; he'd gotten more then enough advantages on his terrain.

They had put themselves now…in the eye of the storm, the wind so gripping that they were lucky they were so incredibly fast.

"Let's see how fast you really are." Shadow said, egging him on.

Shadow started to glow red as he ran through the damaged city, turning and flipping and racing every road or slit there was, trying to shake him off.

Metal wasn't running, he was flying, and turning left and right as the buildings came closer in view.

As of now both of them were in harm's way.

Metal ran straight through one of the buildings, blowing it to bits as he did so, following close behind Shadow.

Suddenly…Shadow stopped.

The storm's end was in view, and any closer to the tornado's edges and he would be blown away.

Metal glared at Shadow, not knowing why he'd stopped. "Inferior creature, can't even outrun me."

Shadow yelled. "No stop! Idiot! You're running straight into the tornado!"

Shadow tried to scream over the storm, but it was being drowned out by the lightning and gush of wind and torn apart buildings.

Metal Sonic now realized…he wasn't in the center of the tornado anymore…he'd ventured too far out of it.

He crashed through a building…looking alarmed…and the wind started to get too much for him.

The lightning shocked and latched on to his medal being, attracted to it, and…that was the last moment Shadow saw him…

End chapter


	15. Chapter 15 “Following the Light”

Chapter 15 "Following the Light"

Now Shadow was faced with a much bigger problem…the wind was coming closer to him, Metal Sonic may have been defeated by the weather, but that was not the fate Shadow wanted his life to come to.

Shadow growled in his throat, holding up both chaos emeralds.

Shadow's fists began glowing bright red, as he readied to take out the uninhabited buildings in his path.

"CHAOS!!!! BLAST!!!!!!" Shadow screamed, a sonic boom soon followed and anything that probably could have killed him in the tornado was wiped out from the air.

The red beam of light shot upwards as Shadow ran through the tornado, following the lightning and the storm's edge.

In one last flash of light, the tornado seemed to have been sucked in by the explosion and the air all died and the clouds burst dropping its water on the city in bucket loads.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow yelled.

…and everything got quiet…there was not any more noise then the sound of computers…Shadow was aboard the ARK…

What he saw was the Eclipse Cannon, only reengineered for Metal's purposes; he walked up to it, and slammed his fist into the control area.

And all like flipping off a light switch…the filtered energy from the Ark stopped…and everything was silent…

Shadow looked out into space…starring at the planet that stood there…only this time…it was not a sad memory.

"Well, now I know what was left undone Maria." Shadow smiled. "…and though I hate this fact, I have a few more things to do."

"Chaos control." Shadow uttered again, vanishing

---

Shadow appeared on a space station…but one quite different.

It was the piece of the Death Egg, life sustainable since it was the room where Eggman stored food and water and oxygen from the plants and trees, enough for a life time.

There was somebody starring through the window…he looked backwards in complete surprise.

"Shadow?"

Sonic the hedgehog was still alive…Metal Sonic was right.

He was sitting on the metal floor of the metal room and in front of the bullet proof glass windows, starring down at Mobious.

His fur was rough and messy and he looked a lot older then he once was.

Shadow looked irritated. "If you're such a big shot and can do anything, you wouldn't still be here."

Sonic got on his feet as Shadow walked closer and grabbed his arm. "Chaos…Control!"

---

Amy Tails Rouge and Omega were standing out of reach from where the storm was.

The daylight had shown through again, and though the city was destroyed, most of the people got out alive.

Omega shifted towards Rouge, she smiled kindly.

He and she were still alive, despite everything.

Amy hugged Tails. "Tails you're alive! What happened?!"

Tails smiled, and then looked down sadly. "Sonic is gone Amy…"

Amy's heart felt like it had shattered into a thousand pieces, and she laid her head on his shoulders weeping.

"Why are you crying Amy?"

Amy's eyes opened up and glittered in amazement…she knew that voice…

In the mists of what she had just thought forever and a day of having lost Sonic…the moment she felt her lowest…

Shadow stood bluntly with his arms crossed next to…Sonic the hedgehog.

Amy ran to him, with a gasping breath held on to him. "Sonic! SONIC!!! I knew you were alive!!!!"

She was crying and tears dripped and slid down her face on to the floor and touched against Sonic's honest face. "I knew it! My heart told me so!"

Tails hugged him too, joining in the happy weeping. "I thought it I'd caused your death! Sonic I'm so glad you're ok!"

All seemed well…as they were talking and celebrating, Rouge and Omega followed the silent Shadow who was about ready to leave.

"Hey wait up." Rouge said.

Shadow turned back at her. "Yes?"

Rouge looked at him with a lot of respect. "That was a good thing you did Shadow."

Omega lifted his arms happily. "THIS UNIT'S ORIGONAL DATA IS RESTORED…I AM SORRY FOR WHAT HAPPENED….THIS UNIT IS PLEASEDTO HAVE YOU TWO AS FRIENDS."

Shadow half smiled, not being much of the talking type. "well, my name is Shadow the Hedgehog after all, if The Ultimate Life form backs down to a fight, what might this world be like?"

His confident expression memorable, he'd single handedly stopped the disaster from causing any more harm.

The other three crying over the return of Sonic and laughing and enjoying themselves.

Rouge Omega and Shadow stood silently, but satisfied.

The sun rose in the sky as the storm had completely cleared…and as the day had finally started.

The end


End file.
